Tamiya 1/48 F-16CJ Weasel over Kosovo

[Sid de Koning]

New project to accompany my OA-10A on the display shelf.. And what better than Tamiya's F-16CJ on a SEAD mission, loaded up with AMRAAMs and HARMS, Spangdahlem again of course.. Yep, 1999 as well, partly from Aviono and partly from their homebase..


Slogan for this build: "Hammer 01 got strobes.. Magnum, SAM South"

SEAD Wingload:
Station 1/9: AIM-120A
station 2/8: AIM-9M (+ AN/ALE-50)
Station 3/7: AGM-88 HARM
(Station 4/6: 370 USG Wing tank)
Station 5: ALQ-131
Station 5L: AN/ASQ-213 HTS Pod "Weasel in a can"

Extra's are Shull exhaust and a bonus Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System, Brassin AMRAAM's and Sidewinders. Wolfpack cockpit and Master pitot.
And landing soon are a Big Ed set for the CJ and Wheelliant wheels and Brassin speedbrakes and exhaust (just because I can) and Afterburner decals.

Reference in Jake Melampy and Daco's great books.

Tamiya basically always fits well. Panellines are a bit shallow for my liking, but for now I am not rescribing them.

The box..


Holy Bibles..






haven't got a clue, but with those holes I can get glue in there easily..


for a CJ this panelline should be removed and a vent added behind it..


fixed gun cover and added a small plate behind the last opening..


just like Kinetic the fuel tank vents are missing..


The gun gas purge door is always open on the ground, open it is..


against Tamiya's instructions..


Brassins AIM-120's have a choice of practise warheads (right) or live ones (more pointier)..


Afterburner decalsheet 48024 (lower one). If somebody has a picture of this particular F-16..


Mocht je nog plaatjes hebben.. ik hou me aanbevolen.

Completely worthless Wheelliant set[/u]! (much too small, even according their own instructions and it doesn't fit.. subcompany of Aires..) and on the right Royale Resin wheels..


Not bad, my most successful attempt so far..


Since the Eduard set hasn't arrived yet, I have started on the weapolns and pylons. Tamiya's HARM is beautiful and only needs a small disc at the end..
De LAU-118's look good as well, but the rear end looks just a little bit different.
zien er goed uit, maar kunnen aan de achterkant andere details gebruiken.
The pylons on station 4/6 also look a bit different than OOB. Rescribed some panellines and added some detail at the rear end and reinforcement plates.
Drilled some holes in pylons 3/7 for the swaybraces.

[Sid de Koning]

What I think I know so far is that in 1999 the ALE-50 was added on station 2, at least for OAF. No CCIP and JHCMS. With Nowhere-duct. Old style HTS on 5L (different panellines).

If anyone has pictures of 1999 SP Vipers who actually flew in Operation Allied Freedom you would really make my day by posting them!

Other tips are more than welcome as well. I am a newbie Viper builder..

[Mozzy19]

I followed your OA-10 build with interest, and will follow this with interest as well.

Sean

[Crowbar]

Big fan of the F16, want to build one the next few months so I will be following with the utmost interest.

Edited July 13, 2013 by Crowbar

[Sid de Koning]

After quite some time some progress is made..

My conversion course is finished and I am happy to report I am now officially a captain on KLM's 737 fleet.

This also means I found some time to pick up on the Viper once again and today I had a airbrushing session.

Always hard to start back up again, but I did. My plan is to finish this Viper before I have to start packing up because I will be moving in May.

not quite focussed but it's better than nothing, right?..

again out of focus..

starting with the gear bay..

white..

not Tamiya's usual fit..

this reinforcement plate is missing (it used to be a panel line before sanding the outside of the intake lip)..

good use for some wine lead..

panel lines rescribed, you will hardly see these at all..

fixed and ready to be sanded down..

Mr. surfacer 1200..

Mr. Color 306/ FS 36270

happy..

[ruudster]

Erg mooi!

[Sid de Koning]

Tamiyas donut fits perfectly to the fuselage but isn't detailed enough to my liking. Eduard is not an option for me..


Shulls donut doesn't fit 100% either..


but way better than AIres :roll: ..


putting a Brassin exhaust on Tamiyas donut isn't an option either..


Radar Absorbing Material made from wine lead. Stabilizers (first draft on top)..


Radar Absorbing Material to go with the flaperons (same)..


glued and sanded lightly..

not bad after some primer..


some details made again after some heavy sanding, a hole and some sprue..


Modelmaster Chrome..


Some of the ordnance decalled up..

[Sid de Koning]

Just finished airbrushing the Viper's basic layer with Mr.Color 306/FS36270 and 306/FS36118. Lovely airbrushable lacquers!
All underwing stores are airbrushed in Mr.Color 308/FS36375.

Not 100% happy how this feathered edge between dark and light is, I'll work on that some more..

[Breaker]

This is blasting along Sid, nice work. It's a lovely kit to build apart from having to have the main undercarriage installed during painting.

[exdraken]

looking good!

thanks for updates!

[Sid de Koning]

Today I finished weathering this Viper with Gunze 305, 306 en white 16. Some pics I have of the real bird don't show any weathering at all except for the radome.

But no weathering sounded a bit too dull for me, so I did some. What do you all think?

some parts loosely positioned..

[Breaker]

Might be a bit too straight on the wings/fuselage? The rear stabs look spot on.

[mirageiv]

Wonderful work here mate! Everything is done so neatly. Look forward to more of this.

[Sid de Koning]

weathered the droptanks a bit..

I spend most of today adapting the old Hasegawa ALQ-131 to something more to my liking. I do think I want to cast this..

with Flightpath ALQ-131, nothing I could use..

[Janremco]

Very nice and detailed work Sid.

Jan Remco

[Sid de Koning]

with some primer it does look way better than all other versions I know of..

thinking of a casting process..

mixing rubber..

and the inevitable system failure.. it broke..

a clear cote after the wash..

started decalling and it's beginning to look like a Viper..

[Janremco]

Great work so far.

[Sid de Koning]

Thanks. My casting is slowly but steadily improving. A new horizontal mould is working so much better. Still a couple of air bubbles but nothing that can't be fixed with a little TLC.
I'll make some more pics.

This jet was adorned with 6 decals on the sides of the intake. Guess which one I actually made my myself?




out of focus, but you get the idea..


printed some stencilling for the ordnance and some circles for the LAU-129 backside..


today I tried a new technique for tinting the canopies and it looks to me I will be using this technique more often..




with these ingredients..

[arfa1983]

Can you detail the process of tinting the canopy? Looks awesome

[Janremco]

Looking good the tinted canopies. May I'll give it at try myself. Are these products available in Holland?

Can you detail the followed proces?

Jan Remco

[RMCS]

Lovely build

[RMP2]

Lovely looking model, especially the HARMs, AIM-9s and ALQ. Blooming well done are those and look more 1/32 than 1/48 to me.

Regards canopy tinting, I saw this video the other day, thought you guys might like it as it gives less of a yellow tint and no pooling around frame lines:

Part 1 -

Part 2 -

[Sid de Koning]

So, Winsor & Newton with alcohol sprays beautifully, but it's not very waterproof afterwards.. when hit by fresh paint or any liquid it starts to bubble and disappears..


and then it rubs off easily..


stripped to the bare plastic and built up again with Future..


airbushed with a mixture of W&N with Future and a drop of Mr. Retarder Mild.. a temporary haze scared me.. but it was temporary..


fltr: without future coating and airbrushed with the W&N mix, future coated Tamiya smoked canopy/W&N mix, future coated clear canopy/W&N mix, clear future coat on smoked canopy..


details from Eduard..


canopy mechanism plus..


I am happy!




option 1..


option 2..


So, in short, don't airbrush with alcohol but use Future and a drop of mr. Retarder Mild. It sprays just as fine in thin coats with low pressure. You can easily build up the color and best of all, it's waterproof and rock solid. Good ol' Future!

Because I didn't have the W&N gold color I used Canary Yellow on my canopies. Next time I will try the golden color, but I am happy with this result.

I watched the aforementioned video's as well. Besides the fact narrator could have easily squeezed all his information in let's say 5 minutes iso 45+ I do think the canopy doesn't look too realistically in my opinion anyway. I find the pigments to be too visible.

W&N paints are available in the Netherlands. Future and Mr. Retarder Mild, I do not know. I use other sources..

[RMP2]

Nice info and as for which one looks more correct... Ive just had a quick look around Google and it seems they varied either in tint or just light conditions to suit pretty much any hue youd like! Cant be wrong.

Im really liking the canopy details and hinge too, well done.

[Breaker]

Sid, I've got the Tamiya tinted canopy somewhere if that's of any interest to you? Got it with the Aggressor kit and I used the normal one if your interested.